The parents of Brian Laundrie have spoken about what they knew about Gabby Petito’s murder after the Netflix documentary caused a stir.
Gabby Petito was a 22-year-old American vlogger and blogger who was fresh on her journey to travelling across the US in her van with her then-fiancé, Laundrie.
The pair had been attempting to make their dream of nomads come true and were just weeks into their trip when Petito was reported missing, and Laundrie travelled home alone with Petito’s van.
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Suspicion immediately fell on the man, who did not cooperate with law enforcement and had even lawyered up before the police came to inquire about Petito’s whereabouts.
His parents Christopher and Roberta were also met with intense backlash after the Netflix three-part series was released on 17 February, after they were seen via police bodycam footage avoiding questions about Petito and refusing to cooperate or provide relief to her desperate parents.
Since then, the Laundries have revealed the day their son called them to say his fiancé was ‘gone’ and ‘everything hit the fan’.
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Laundrie has since committed suicide and was found in the woods, having apparently shot himself after Petito’s body was found in September, just weeks after she was reported missing.
Laundrie’s suicide note admitted to her murder, but claimed that she was injured and he chose to take her life in a mercy killing.
However, Petito’s autopsy found that she had suffered from blunt force trauma to the head and neck, as well as having been manually strangled.
His parents were also criticised after a letter Roberta wrote to her son was discovered, in which she said she would help him dispose of a body.
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Christopher has now revealed in new deposition details that his son was frantic when they spoke about what happened on the van trip, and that he had asked that they help him to find a lawyer.
He was then asked what he believed Laundrie meant when he told his father that ‘Gabby’s gone’, Christopher revealed that he didn’t know.
The call took place on 29 August 2021, just one day after her murder.
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Laundrie would then return home to his parents after having taken Petito’s van on 1 September. His father shared he looked like ‘a kid who came home in trouble’.
Petito’s parents, Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, are currently suing the Laundries after claiming they knew that their son had intentionally killed their daughter and refused to tell them.
However, Christopher and Roberta allege that their attorney advised them not to return calls or messages from Petito’s parents after they paid a $25,000 (roughly £19,740) retainer around the day Laundrie turned up at their residence.
Christopher said as per the deposition: “I don’t know what the right thing to do — I don’t know how to respond to any of this.
“I don’t know how anybody would handle it.”
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Roberta shared that she knew something was wrong with Laundrie when he began to get ‘upset’ during a phone call, stating: “He didn’t sound like himself. I knew something was wrong.”
At the time, she said she believed that her son had either physically assaulted Petito or that he had gotten himself in trouble and needed help, but she wasn’t sure whether she had considered that he has murdered his fiancé.
She then said that when Laundrie called to say that he would drive to their home, she didn’t ask about Petito and assumed that her parents would be collecting her.
She added that they hired a lawyer as he ‘must have done something or something must have happened that he could be in trouble for’.
Weeks later, Petito would be found, and Laundrie would commit suicide.
Topics: Crime, Netflix, True Crime, US News, Gabby Petito
Britt Jones